7 | MANDELA MONDAY | 7

Last Mandela Monday we discussed a popular candy bar that many believe has been affected by The Mandela Effect (ME). When it comes to logos and branding, I feel it can be hard to find many instances of residual evidence. That's why many of these entries will likely focus on music, movies, and television. These iconic lyrics, quotes, and scenes are burned into our memories (albeit potentially erroneously).

For instance, today we take a look back at the famous children's program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. It's a show many of us know and love, giving a nostalgic pang when thinking about it. In each episode, Fred Rogers — the show's creator and host — would sing his iconic song, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"

This theme song was featured on the first Mandela Effect quiz on The Cryton Chronicles. Some affected by the phenomenon remember the first lines of the song differently than what they apparently are today. The question presented in that blog entry was as followed:

What are the opening lines of the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood theme song (feel free to sing the whole thing if you can't resist its charm and nevermind the typo)?

Was the theme song as you remember it, or was there some slight changes? This Mandela Effect has quite a handful of residual evidence (sometimes referred to as Reality Residue). No The Simpsons (to my knowledge) sources, which is surprising! At least yet...

The line in question, in case you missed it, was "It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood." It may seem small (aren't many of these shifts?), but there are many people who recall "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood" instead.

Below are a compilation of these examples by various YouTube content creators and "ME researchers" (for lack of a better word?) — Light of Light Production, MoneyBags73, and Aggroed Lighthacker — with this cited change. Some of the quality is rough in the first video and some information overlaps between them all, but overall it's pretty comprehensive. Take the time to check them out:

Like I said, there were many examples and quite possibly many more, especially when it comes to covers of the song. The one I found interesting was the spin-off series Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood using "the" instead of "this" even though it's based on the classic show. Why not use the original opening line?

Another interesting tidbit I found was in an article talking about Arnold Palmer who grew up in the same hometown as Fred Rogers, Latrobe, PA. In this article, the writer discusses an overpass welcoming you to Latrobe. On that overpass is the written message said to be a tip-of-the-hat to Fred Rogers. I can't post the picture of it because of potential copyright issues, but I encourage you to take a look!

Edit: I wanted to add something I forgot about when writing this entry. When I originally went to Google the song lyrics, this was what came up:

Anyhow, at the time I thought it was kind of humorous...

Whether or not this is a Mandela Effect, there's no doubt that Fred Rogers, his programming, and his activism touched the hearts of many around the world. So in closing, I'd like to share some of my favorite moments that periodically make the rounds over social media:

Did you watch Mister Rogers' Neighborhood? Is the theme song as you remember it? Was it always "the" or "this"? Do you think the examples cited as residual evidence could play a part in why so many people remember "the" over "this"?

Have you found any different residual evidence associated with the subject matter above?